Determinants of Revealed technological advantages in Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this work was to identify the determinants of Revealed technological advantages in Brazil between 2000 and 2011. For this purpose, the technological specializations of each mesoregion in Brazil were measured and, subsequently, the effect of relatedness density, knowledge complexity of technologies and technological extra-local connection in this process. The patents are used a proxy for technological capacity by these are able to capture efforts in region technological development. For empirical analysis, we used the Probit model of panel data with random effect. The results showed that the relatedness density is decisive in the development of new technological advantages, mainly in the mesoregions located in the North, Northeast and Center-West regions of Brazil. In addition, the expansion of technology sophistication tends to attract new regional technological specializations (RTA_rjt> 1), more precisely in the South and Southeast in Brazil. In turn, the technological extra-local connection affects the Brazilian territory in different ways, in terms of fostering new revealed technological advantages.